DATE: December 15, 2015
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Library and Community Services
SUBJECT: Authorization for the City Manager to Implement Near-Term Strategies to Assist Homeless Individuals in Hayward
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council adopts the attached resolutions authorizing the City Manager to take action and execute agreements to implement the following near-term strategies to assist homeless individuals in Hayward:
1. Provide up to $25,000 in match funding and coordination to help open a new winter warming center for homeless individuals in north/downtown Hayward and the nearby unincorporated areas;
2. Coordinate with and support the County of Alameda and Abode Services to expand homeless outreach to individuals who reside in outdoor encampments in and around Hayward; and
3. Implement a one-year pilot program to provide employment and job skills training to homeless individuals in downtown Hayward, using $205,000 in Community Development Block Grant restricted economic development program income funds from the now-expired Façade Program.
SUMMARY
This report presents three near-term strategies to assist homeless individuals in Hayward; and seeks Council authorization to immediately implement the following strategies: a winter warming center to serve homeless individuals in north/downtown Hayward and the surrounding unincorporated areas; expanded outreach to homeless individuals who reside in outdoor homeless encampments in and around Hayward; and a jobs program to provide employment training and economic opportunity to homeless individuals in downtown Hayward.
This report is focused on near-term strategies to address homelessness. A subsequent report concerning additional strategies, including medium-term and long-term strategies is in development and will be brought to Council for additional review and direction in February 2016.
BACKGROUND
On September 22, 2015, Council held an extensive public work session <http://bitly.com/Staff-report_2015-09-22_homelessness> on the issues of homelessness and disruptive street behaviors in Hayward and Alameda County. The wide-ranging staff report and public work session included an in-depth review of the existing network of services for homeless people in Hayward and Alameda County; a broad sampling of trends and best practices on the regional and national levels; an overview of near-term, mid-term, and long-term services and strategies already in place; and identification of areas where additional services are needed and/or recommended.
The September 22, 2015 Council work session and staff report was intended to be the first of a continuing series of public discussions and actions by the Council on the extraordinarily complex social issue of homelessness. At that broader introductory session, Council directed staff to prepare a series of additional policy sessions focused on near-term, mid-term, and long-term strategies in turn. These policy sessions are being scheduled for Council review sequentially at intervals over the next twelve months. Staff is preparing additional homelessness policy sessions for Council focused on mid-term and long-term strategies; the next session is currently scheduled on February 23, 2016.
Due to practical considerations including the pending onset of winter weather, this report presents and recommends three near-term strategies for immediate implementation. These strategies were among those identified by Council during the September 22, 2015 work session: creating a second winter warming center in the Hayward area; expanding outreach into homeless encampments; and increasing employment opportunities for homeless individuals. These strategies are coordinated closely with the County as well as local businesses and community-based organizations.
The three near-term strategies recommended in this report and the attached resolutions (Attachments I, II, and III, respectively) are being prioritized at this time due to the urgent need to quickly provide additional winter warming center services and the opportunity to leverage available funding, including match funding being provided by the County.
DISCUSSION
The following near-term strategies are designed to address key areas of immediate need identified by Council during the work session on September 22, 2015. Staff recommends that Council authorize the City Manager to implement these strategies immediately.
1. Winter Warming Center
At the direction of Council, City staff is coordinating with the County of Alameda and experienced service providers to open a winter warming center for homeless individuals in the north/downtown Hayward area who have no other access to shelter during inclement weather.
The new center in the north of town would be in addition to the existing winter warming center in the south Hayward area operated by South Hayward Parish. Clearly, more resources are needed to expand the effort in South County, but this effort leverages the monetary support and staff effort of Alameda County.
The proposed northern Hayward area warming center would provide a warm and dry overnight location for up to thirty homeless individuals who reside in the north/downtown Hayward area during nights of heavy rain and/or temperatures below forty degrees. The center would provide basic shelter, warmth, security, and hot food between the hours of 6:00 p.m. through 6:00 a.m.
With the expected onset of El Niño this winter, it is anticipated that the winter warming centers potentially could be needed for as many as fifty nights during the winter season through March 30, 2016.
An experienced service provider, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), has agreed to provide qualified staff to operate the new warming center on nights of inclement weather. A local faith-based organization has offered space in its facility to host the center, pending approval by its board in December 2015. The proposed facility is located near the nexus of the Hayward northern city limit, Castro Valley, Ashland, and the San Lorenzo creek watershed. The facility is spacious and in good condition, and is supported by a robust congregation and volunteers.
The County of Alameda has committed up to $25,000 in funding toward operations of the warming center. Staff recommends that the Council also authorize up to $25,000 from the General Fund as a match. Should Council authorize the City match funds, the City funding would be used for shelter supplies and equipment, facility costs, and security services. The County contribution of up to $25,000 would be applied toward staffing and overhead costs incurred by the service provider, BOSS, and by the County for administering the project.
Should Council authorize the appropriation in match funds as requested from the General Fund, the City Manager will finalize negotiations and execute the necessary agreements with the County, BOSS, and the faith-based organization to implement the winter warming center as swiftly as possible. The coming winter is anticipated to be extremely wet and stormy due to El Niño. Some of the storms and cold weather have already begun. For this reason, staff is working diligently with counterparts in the County and the faith-based community to quickly open the winter warming center for homeless residents of the north/downtown Hayward area who have no access to other shelter during inclement weather.
2. Expand Outreach to Homeless Individuals in Outdoor Encampments
The Alameda County Housing and Community Development (HCD) and Social Services Departments have committed $180,000 to expand outreach to homeless individuals living in outdoor encampments in Hayward and Castro Valley. The expanded outreach team will identify and register homeless individuals in the Homeless Information Management System (HMIS), and work with them on a recurring and ongoing basis to build trust, establish service plans, and connect each individual with the services and assistance available to them. Additionally, the outreach team will inform people of new or temporary services such as when the winter warming center is open, and will help qualified individuals move toward permanent supportive housing. Experienced outreach agency Abode Services has been identified by the County to provide the actual boots-on-the-ground outreach work in the outdoor encampments themselves, which is above and beyond the outreach work they currently offer in service locations such as food pantries, meal programs, shelters, etc.
To demonstrate the City’s support for these efforts and its continued partnership with the County and Abode Services to address the issue of homelessness in the Hayward area, staff recommends that Council adopts the attached resolution (Attachment II) acknowledging and memorializing the expanded outreach partnership. The resolution is intended to help strengthen Hayward’s competitiveness in pursuing and securing funding at the state and federal levels for homelessness strategies; such funding often emphasizes interagency partnerships as a key criteria for eligibility.
3. Downtown Streets Team - Job Skills and Employment for the Homeless
At the direction of Council, City staff investigated the possibility of piloting a job skills and employment program for homeless individuals in Hayward in partnership with the Downtown Streets Team. The cities of San Jose, Palo Alto, San Rafael, and Sunnyvale have partnered with the Downtown Streets Team program dating back to 2005, with extraordinary success.
The Downtown Streets Team partners with cities to provide homeless individuals with immediate volunteer opportunities to serve the community through work teams. The program’s primary goal is to provide work experience and job skills training to homeless team members and transition them to permanent employment. The organization works closely with local businesses and homeless service providers to provide work experience, develop job skills, and improve the community. Participants are immediately refocused to work toward their future through regular Success Team meetings, and are given quality opportunities to reengage their employment readiness through structured volunteerism and job skills training. Participants develop marketable job skills and experience, and most participants transition into permanent employment and housing with the support and referrals they receive from the program.
The Downtown Streets Team model is sometimes referred to as a “Work First” model. This model seeks to create a symbiotic dynamic around employment from which all partners benefit. The community benefits from the work of the Streets Team to improve the neighborhood through cleanup activities such as landscaping, graffiti abatement and related activities; the individual participants benefit by receiving valuable work experience and paid stipends; and the City benefits from the unique collaboration between the neighborhood, business community, and the Streets Team to achieve shared goals. A key element to the Downtown Streets Team’s success in other cities is its emphasis on “hope through dignity” in which participants gain self-confidence and hope for their futures through hands-on work experience, economic opportunity, and community support.
Staff recommends that the Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate with the Downtown Streets Team to implement a one-year pilot program in Hayward. The goal of the Hayward pilot program would be to: provide quality hands-on work experience and job skills training to forty-five homeless individuals; place twelve homeless individuals in regular employment in local businesses; and secure permanent housing for eight homeless individuals by the end of the pilot year. These goals are consistent with the first-year achievements of other Downtown Streets Team cities.
The proposed Hayward Downtown Streets Team one year pilot program cost is estimated to be $205,000. This would provide a complete job training and employment program for forty-five homeless individuals as outlined in Attachment IV.
The Downtown Streets Team pilot program creates jobs and provides employment training for homeless individuals. Because it is primarily a job-creation program, the Downtown Streets Team is eligible for restricted Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) economic development funds. Restricted CDBG economic development funds may not be applied to social services where most homelessness programs are categorized, but they may be applied toward job-creation programs.
Staff has identified a source of one-time CDBG economic development program income funds from the CDBG Façade program which ended in 2011. The one-time program income is the result of a loan payoff from a single loan initiated in 2010 and recently paid off. Per HUD and City policy, CDBG program income funds can only be directed toward another economic development or infrastructure activity, and they must be used within a certain window of time, in this case by October 2016, or else they must be returned to the federal government.
As program income, these one-time funds are not part of the City’s annual CDBG entitlement grant, and cannot be used toward the annual Community Agency Funding process in which local service agencies apply for and are awarded CDBG grants by the City each April. CDBG requires program income be spent prior to allocations, and program income must be spent within the program year it was received.
The availability of these one-time CDBG Program Income funds presents the unique opportunity to implement a pilot program that provides quality employment opportunities to improve the community while helping Hayward homeless individuals get back on their feet and back into a healthier, more productive and more sustainable way of life.
Should Council authorize the use of $205,000 in available CDBG restricted economic development program income funds for a one-year Hayward Downtown Streets Team pilot program, the City Manager will negotiate and execute an agreement with the Downtown Streets Team to implement the program; and will prepare and submit to HUD the required update to the City’s CDBG Annual Action Plan per the resolution in Attachment III.
FISCAL IMPACT
• Warming Center: Implementation of the proposed winter warming center will require the appropriation of up to $25,000 from the City’s General Fund. The County of Alameda has committed to providing a matching contribution of up to $25,000 from its own General Fund.
• Expanded Outreach to Outdoor Encampments: The proposed outreach will have no impact to the City’s General Fund. The cost of the project will be completely absorbed by the County of Alameda which is providing $180,000 in funds to support expanded outreach to outdoor encampments in Hayward.
• Hayward Downtown Streets Team Employment Program: The proposed Hayward Downtown Streets Team pilot program will have no impact to the General Fund. The pilot program’s $205,000 estimated cost can be sourced from one-time Program Income revenues in the expired CDBG Façade Program. These funds must be used for economic development and/or infrastructure for low- and very low-income individuals. The one-time program income funds are not part of the City’s annual CDBG entitlement grant, and must be spent prior to October 2016.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public meetings were held on the following dates and locations to discuss and develop the near-term strategies outlined in this report
September 22, 2015: Hayward City Council
October 12, 2015: Alameda County Multi-Service Facility - Hayward
October 21, 2015: Community Services Commission
October 23, 2015: Abode Services office
October 26, 2015: Alameda County Housing and Community Development
November 9, 2015: Hayward Public Library
December 15, 2015: Hayward City Council
NEXT STEPS
If Council approves staff’s recommendations as outlined in this report, staff will take all necessary steps to immediately implement the following near-term strategies to assist homeless individuals in Hayward:
1. Facilitate funding up to $25,000 in match funding from the General Fund to help open a new winter warming center for homeless individuals residing in north/downtown Hayward and the nearby unincorporated areas;
2. Coordinate with and support the County of Alameda and Abode Services to expand homeless outreach to individuals who reside in outdoor encampments in and around Hayward; and
3. Negotiate with the Downtown Streets Team to implement a one-year pilot program to provide employment training and job placement services for homeless individuals in downtown Hayward, using $205,000 in available Community Development Block Grant economic development program income funds from the now-expired CDBG Façade Program.
This report is focused on near-term strategies to address homelessness. A subsequent report concerning medium-term and long-term strategies will be brought to Council for additional review and direction in February 2016.
Prepared by: Dawn Jaeger, Community Services Manager
Recommended by: Sean Reinhart, Director of Library and Community Services
Approved by:
Fran David, City Manager
Attachments:
Attachment I: Resolution Appropriating Funds for a Winter Warming Center
Attachment II: Resolution Supporting Outreach to Outdoor Homeless Encampments
Attachment III: Resolution Amending the City of Hayward CDBG Annual Action Plan
Attachment IV: Summary Proposal - Hayward Downtown Streets Team Pilot Program